Cronulla stars Will Kennedy and Jesse Ramein are both set to miss their Magic Round clash with the Raiders this weekend, with the pair facing significant bans for their high shots against the Warriors.
After Kennedy was sent off and Ramien sin-binned in their win on Sunday, the committee graded the incidents with level-three charges.
It means Kennedy will miss two matches with an early guilty plea and Ramien three games, given the centre already has a charge in 2022.
If either were to fight their charge at the NRL judiciary and lose, their bans would be extended by a week.
The charges leave the Sharks backline depleted for their contest with Canberra, as well as the following week against Gold Coast.
Nicho Hynes would be one option to revert to fullback, but that would mean breaking up a successful halves combination with Matt Moylan.
Connor Tracey would be the other alternative, however he would be considered handy in Ramien’s place at centre.
The punishments come after the Sharks became the first team in 14 years to win while they were man down on their opponents from before halftime.
They then spent part of the second half down to 11 men when Ramien’s shoulder made heavy contact with Euan Aitken’s head, but they did not concede a try in that period.
Sharks players rallied around Kennedy after the win, with the fullback marched in the 16th minute when he coat-hangered a stepping Reece Walsh and hooked him backwards to the ground.
“Obviously (he feels) sheepish and very disappointed, but he’s proud of the guys,” coach Craig Fitzgibbon said afterwards..
“We’ll get around him this week.”
Captain Wade Graham said Kennedy made an ill-timed tackle.
“He’s come up as a defender and got beaten a little on the inside – he hung out an arm. It’s never a nice feeling,” Graham said.
“You feel like you let everyone down. But we’ll get around him and he’ll bounce back. On a positive note we rallied and got the result despite that.
“He can keep his head up and move on.”
The Raiders will be without star five-eighth Jack Wighton who is serving his final game of a two-match suspension for a dangerous throw, also on Reece Walsh.
Matt Frawley filled in for Wighton last week and was one of the Raiders’ best in their 14-4 win over the Bulldogs that ended a five-match losing streak.
Canberra have already played Cronulla once this year, with the Raiders claiming a thrilling 24-19 victory in round one at GIO Stadium.
